


a brief interlude (childish curiosity)

by WattStalf



Series: cos your love's got the best of me (baby, you're making a fool of me) [48]
Category: Baccano!
Genre: F/M, Gen, just some conversation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-06-26 13:50:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19769524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WattStalf/pseuds/WattStalf
Summary: I got to know him before I decided to fall in love with him.





	a brief interlude (childish curiosity)

**Author's Note:**

> I never get enough of these two

“Alone today?” Lua asks, looking up as Ricardo enters the room she currently lives in.

“Christopher couldn’t come,” he replies. In his hands, he has a few books, and he sets them down on the table. “Did you need anything else before I go?” he asks.

“Oh? You aren’t visiting today?” she asks, more curious than complaining. When he’s with Christopher, he usually stays for some time, but maybe he isn’t as sociable on his own. Lua can relate to that, and she’s sure the two wouldn’t have much to talk about on their own, without Christopher coming up with topics and pushing the conversation along, as he always does.

“Sorry,” Ricardo says with a slight frown. “I don’t mean to be rude.”

“It’s alright,” she replies, expecting that to be the end of that, but Ricardo lingers for a moment, standing awkwardly near the door but not moving to leave. She wants to tell him that it’s fine to go on and that she’s alright on her own, that she didn’t mean anything by it, but before she does, he gestures to his usual chair.

“Can I sit?” She nods, and he sits down, staring at the stack of books he brought without speaking. Lua can’t think of anything to say either, so she remains silent as well. They really are an awkward pair.

“I don’t know Ladd very well,” he finally starts. It’s not the first time they’ve talked about her fiance, his second cousin, the reason she’s being held here, but they don’t talk about him very often, and their conversations are almost always steered off course by Christopher, before Ladd is ever seriously discussed.

“You were young the last time you saw him,” she says, and Ricardo nods.

“My parents…” He pauses. “My parents didn’t really talk about him either.”

“I can imagine,” she says, because she can’t help it. “Did you want to know more about him?”

“I’m just curious about how you met, and why you…”

She’s used to being asked what a girl like her is doing with a guy like him, before people really know her and understand her, but she doesn’t think that’s what Ricardo is asking her. The child before her is so sullen and quiet and mature at times that it’s easy to forget that he is a child, but right now, he seems very much his age. She knows that Ricardo is simply asking for the story of how she and Ladd fell in love, with a curiosity that suits someone finally starting to wonder about those sorts of feelings.

“I saw him kill a man,” she says, blushing as she speaks, and Ricardo does not react one way or another. She isn’t oblivious enough to not realize that this is not everyone’s idea of how a love story should begin, but she never sugarcoats it either. Still, it’s nice that Ricardo doesn’t react with shock or disgust, and at least seems to understand Ladd and their relationship, if only a little bit.

“Love at first sight, then?” he asks, raising a brow, and she can tell that the question is not entirely serious.

“Almost,” she replies, “but it took a little bit longer than instantly. Not too much, considering we got engaged within the month, but...I got to know him before I decided to fall in love with him.”

“Decided to?”

“I always wanted to be alone then, so it was kind of like a decision. I guess it’s complicated.”

“I think I can understand,” he replies, though she isn’t sure how he could, without her explaining. But he’s young, so she decides not to go into  _ those _ details as much as she can. Well, she is talking about  _ Ladd _ , so she might end up leaving a lot of details out, at this rate. “What was it about him? That made you decide.”

What was it, other than his bloodthirsty tendencies and assurances that no one and nothing can take her life before he does? The rest of her reasoning might be even harder to explain to Ricardo, and he might not understand it at all, unless...with a slight smile, she says, “He’s nothing like me. Like I said, I’ve always wanted to be alone, but Ladd...he’s a lot more social. And loud.”

“You like that?”

“Opposites attract, maybe,” she muses. “But if I found someone like me, that would be boring, wouldn’t it? There would never be anything to talk about, and we would never say anything.”

“You’re talking to me, at least,” Ricardo replies.

“About Ladd. He’s more interesting than anything I could think of on my own.” Ricardo nods, and Lua continues, “He’s kind of an idiot, and I think I like that too. It keeps things interesting. He’s not stupid, but he’s an idiot, if that makes sense.”

“Honestly?” Ricardo almost looks like he’s about to smile as he says, “It makes perfect sense.”

It’s surprising that Ricardo wants to have this conversation with her, and can follow and understand what it is that she’s saying, that he seems to get it, but, at the same time, it isn’t really a surprise. No, when she thinks about what little she knows about her captor’s grandson, she isn’t all that surprised, and for the most part, she can piece together why that is.

And as for why he wants to know her and Ladd’s love story in the first place...well, he is young, after all. Early teens, if she recalls correctly, so it’s only natural.

But she doesn’t press the issue, doesn’t ask him if he wants to know about matters of romance for personal reasons or anything like that. Not only because that’s personal and he would have shared it by now if he wanted to, rather than waiting to be asked, but because she’s already said so much to him, in such a short amount of time. It’s exhausting, and if he doesn’t have anymore questions, then she won’t try and force the conversation to continue.

Instead, she gestures to one of her unopened jigsaw puzzle boxes, and asks, “Would you rather wait until next time?”

Ricardo shakes his head. “We can do one with just us,” he says, and so, they do.

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in my writing updates, please follow my fanfiction twitter @WattStalf  
> I'll follow back so long as you don't post anything hateful!


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